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Introduzione alla letteratura comparata. Armando Gnisci, ed. Milan. Bruno Mondadori. 1999. xxi + 361 pages. L.38,000. ISBN 88-424-9362-7.
FOR THE BOOK HE EDITS under the title of Introduzione alla letteratura comparata, Armando Gnisci, a renowned authority in the field of comparative literature, writes the lead essay, which shows forth a fetching enthusiasm. His spirit of dedication and staunch purpose brims over to the other chapters of the volume, eight in all, each of them a substantial contribution by an outstanding comparatist. Gnisci, for his part, stays clear of any prefabricated definition of his discipline. Instead, in the prophetic idiom of a visionary, he hails it as a new branch of knowledge and foreshadows for it a thaumaturgic role at the service of all critical activity that involves thinking. To his generalized assertions the other members of the well-knit team respond, advisedly, with loads of specificity. Theirs is an exposition impeccable in methodical thoroughness. With a healthy blend of theoretical orientation and practical (mainly pedagogical) intention, each explores a different facet of a subject that Gnisci so boldly conjures up as a new frontier of learning.
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